BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nov. 18, 2013— Each race may be a sprint, but the season is definitely a marathon when competing with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series. The 70-plus race campaign begins in the middle of February and stretches to early November. In between, there are usually peaks and valleys and nearly everything else imaginable with the numbers of races and vast amount of travel that is part of the equation. Kraig Kinser experienced just about all of this in 2013, as he completed another season on the road.
Kinser opened the year at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida for the running of the DIRTcar Nationals. He came home ninth on opening night and followed that up by finishing on the podium in third on the second night. Kinser wrapped up the three-night event in the 11th spot and left the Sunshine State fourth in points in the Mesilla Valley Transportation/Casey’s General Store/King Racing Products Maxim.
An 11-race West Coast swing was up next, and the native of Bloomington, Ind., had an up-and-down go during that trip. He picked up four top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place showing at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif. Kinser would head back to the Midwest 10th in the standings.
Following a fifth-place finish in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series inaugural event at El Paso Speedway Park in Texas, Kinser returned to a track he knows very well — Tri-State Speedway in his home state of Indiana. The 29-year-old powered through the field to finish eighth after starting 17th.
The first East Coast Swing of the season was next on-tap and Kinser finished a solid seventh at the famed Williams Grove Speedway with a stout field of 46 cars in attendance. The second night of that event was rained out, giving teams some extra time to make the trip to Orange County Fair Speedway in New York. Kinser made the most of this trek, as he led all 25 laps to score his first win of the season and the first of his career in the Empire State. He would wrap up the East Coast Swing with a top-10 at New Egypt Speedway in New Jersey.
Returning to Indiana for a Memorial Day event at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Kinser notched a seventh-place finish. Later that week he would finish seventh again in the series only visit of the season to the state of Michigan at I-96 Speedway. The final stop of the season for the series in Indiana was at Kokomo Speedway and Kinser crossed the line eighth in that event.
Heading to the Upper Midwest in late June, Kinser finished fifth at River Cities Speedway in North Dakota and Jackson Speedway in Minnesota in consecutive races. In the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series return to LaSalle Speedway in Illinois, Kinser finished ninth.
The series spent the night before the Fourth of July at Huset’s Speedway in South Dakota, with Kinser coming home sixth. The long trip to Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas was fruitful for the 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals as he recorded performance of third and seventh at the three-eighths-mile.
Kinser kicked off the Month of Money with an eighth-place showing in the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park in Ohio. He carried that momentum into the Kings Royal at the legendary Eldora Speedway, recording a sixth-place finish in that 40-lap crown jewel event. During the series first trip of the year north of the border to Canada, Kinser finished third at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec.
Following the Knoxville Nationals, Kinser ran sixth at Nodak Speedway in North Dakota. In the annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, the 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner, finished 10th in the opener.
The second West Coast Race of the season saw the series compete eight times in 10 nights at six tracks in three states. Kinser finished sixth in the opener at Skagit Speedway in Washington, and was eighth on Labor Day night at Grays Harbor Raceway, also in the Evergreen State. He recorded 10th-place finishes in both of the races in Oregon, first at Willamette Speedway and then Cottage Grove Speedway. Kinser concluded the second West Coast Swing with a ninth-place performance at Antioch Speedway.
Back in the Midwest, he finished eighth at both Clay County Fair Speedway in Iowa, and Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. Down the stretch, Kinser finished among the top-five in two of the last three races of the season. He was fifth at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in New York as part of Super DIRT Week and wrapped up the season with a fourth-place run at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, during the World Finals, flying the Bad Boys Buggies colors as a teammate to his father, Steve, the 20-time World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series champion.
Kinser wrapped up the year 11th in points with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series. He was victorious once, while garnering 34 top-10 finishes, with 10 of those being top-fives. He stopped the clocks first in time trials once. Kinser picked up the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award three times in 2013. Over the course of the season, he won five heat races and raced his way into the dash on 22 different occasions.
Kinser will spend some time in the off-season racing competing in Australia as he prepares for the 2014 campaign.
Kraig Kinser Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, Mesilla Valley Transportation, King Racing Products, Maxim, Aerodine Composites, Sander Engineering, Integra Shocks, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bell, KSE Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, Schoenfeld Headers, Donovan Engineering, Fel-Pro, Brodix, Wilwood, Dyer’s, Barnes Systems, Ringer Gloves, Jakes Custom Golf Carts, and Ben Cook Racing Limited for their continued support.
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